HUM LIT Blog Central

I have selected a few examples of digital literature from an new “online anthology” sponsored by the Electronic Literature Organization. Their plan is to select and introduce work they think promises to become classic — which will prompt us to ask questions about how to read these works of a future ENGL 121.

1.) What are we invited to do in reading it? 2) What idea of an “author” lies behind it? 3) What implied function does it fulfill (entertain, please, teach, inform, raise questions, move emotionally…)?

Faith

Project for Tachistcope

Fall of the Site of Marsha

Storyland

Be sure to read part I of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest for Wednesday.

Prompt: Post some reflections on your ideas about the author and how it relates to the digital literature we considered in class. Here are a few opening questions:

What do you make of these? Are they fun? Are they frustrating? What do they mean? Does it make sense to even ask the questions? What approaches to reading do they invite or discourage? Do you think there’s intention or a lack of it behind them? Does the built-in interactivity make them seem richer or poorer to you?

While blogging: don’t forget to visit your group-mates and leave some comments.

With questions like “What is an author?” in mind, we’ll look at two  examples of  digital  or net art, considering them as literature. In each case you’ll see that their design gives the  user/reader more authority than we ordinarily expect in literature.

• Jim Andrews Asteroids reworks the format of the early video game to include words. As one “plays” this poem, language orbits and explodes. It is also designed to allow the user to upload their own source text, keeping the structure but altering the content.
• Emily Herment’s Lies Project can be read as a kinetic poem, with the language mutating as one reads, clicks and interacts. But is also collaborative, in that the lies which make up its content are contributed by 30 or more anonymous authors.

Since the advent of the worldwide web in 1993, creative writers have been wanted to learn how to adapt their writing to this new medium. Once upon a time, drama was new; the novel and film script each had their infancy. Some commentators suggest that digital literature (e-poetry, new media writing, net art, kinetic writing, hypertext, hypermedia…) is also a new genre of writing worth study and enjoyment.

We’ll look at two pieces today that should spark some interesting conversation. We might consider whether they make familiar literary moves, how we are to “read” them, and whether their makers have made an interesting use of these new communications tools.

Brian Kim Stefans - The Dreamlife of Letters : a dynamic and visual poem, we set it moving and then watch letters migrate and dissolve, composing words, phrases, and inviting fairly open associations for the viewer/reader. It can be seen as a cousin to “concrete poetry,” an avant-garde genre in which writers emphasis the visual dimension of words over all else.

Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries - The Last Day of Betty Nkomo: is another visual piece, but one which uses minimal special effects to perform a stark and boldly set narrative. Is it a short story? A poem? How do huge block letters and the accompanying soundtrack shape our experience? Do you notice the film references? (Of potential interest, a commentary and transcription of Betty Nkomo)